Wintry Weekend Wecap, uh, Recap

I'm back from my little break and probably no one even missed me. That's okay. I didn't take a phone break, though, and was able to chat with a pal or two over the weekend. In fact, on Friday afternoon the boys and I were upstairs playing--they were both standing on Easton's little table wearing costumes but the phone rang and I ran down to answer it. When both boys came down a few minutes later they were both nakeys. Well, Easton was wearing some snow boots:

They were getting into all kinds of mischeif while I was on the phone so I stuck them in front of a TV show.

On Saturday I cleaned the bathrooms and then packed the boys and I a little suitcase for an overnight mountain getaway with my mom and Lauren again. Jason is in the final stretch of his Master's work and needed to stay behind to work on school. We all really missed him but understand. So just the boys and I headed out a little after 11 a.m. The mountain town is only about 40 minutes from our house:


Some people who haven't been here sometimes think that Denver is in the mountains but it's not...it's just really near the mountains.

The drive wasn't long so it's not hard to believe that the boys did well. I didn't need to pull out the DVD player but it's kind of a "vacation" thing so I did. They watched 2 Diego episodes and didn't so much as make a peep:


We stayed at a little cottage-type place. We've stayed there before many many years ago. Like, it's been at least 10 or 11 years. But, it's a fun little place perfect for little boys who like to climb because there is a sleeping loft:


It's not exactly the safest because the railing is very low and it's up pretty high. The ladder is flush with the wall so it's not the easiest to climb. It took a person above and a person below to get Diddles up or down...we'd just pass him but still both adults would have to reach as far as they could on either end to make the hand off. That's how high it is.

We checked in and checked the place out and then we headed out into their little downtown. Dalton is ready to go:

Although after looking at this picture I'm thinking we need to move Dalton's straps down a notch. What do you think JessicaOI, if you're reading? Normally a notch below is slightly below his shoulders and he forward faces...what to do?

I wisely packed the boys some lunch (and dinner) because Little Bear did not have much of a kid's menu. Lauren and I enjoyed our BBQ burgers though and Moo had nachos. Mountain towns are somewhat similar to country life in that things move a heck of a lot slower than we're typically used to in the big city. :) It took a long time to get out of that restaurant but then we bundled up and hit the shops:




Moosie always finds great moose items on our mountain treks and this time was no exception. I almost got a nutcracker for next year (it plays music) but declined. I'm sure I'll be regretting it next year. Then we saw a super cool Darth Vader nutcracker. It was on sale...for $250! Um, no. No thanks.

We finished up our shopping and Easton found a rock to climb:


Diddles wanted a try too:


My little mountain guy:


This one makes me think of some paparazzi shot in Us Weekly or something, like "Glamma (Goldie Hawn) and grandson Ryder out for some window shopping":


Then it was back to our cottage to hang for a bit. There were a couple of deer in the road and one was limping so badly...then we could see the badly broken leg. Makes me so sad. Survival of the fittest, I guess. :(

Back at the cottage, the boys had a snack of crackers:


Skeletoes supervised from the sleeping loft:


Then it was time for a few rounds of hide and seek, Easton counting...


And then hiding:


Where could he be?


We found him!


One time Easton could not find my mom hiding on the side of Lauren's bed. So I had her move on to the bed like she'd been there the whole time and he still didn't see her...till we busted out laughing and then he heard her. It was rather amusing.

After some more hanging out we then headed back out to find some dinner. Dalton, who hadn't napped, fell asleep in the car. We opted for some Italian at Tuscany Tavern. The boys sort of snacked on stuff I brought until Easton bit the inside of his cheek and burst into loud tears. He wailed, "Why do I keep doing that?" in a way that made us all sad and after that he only ate ice for the rest of the night. Dalton nibbled a bit on Lauren's spaghetti and then we went back to the cottage.

There was only a shower, no tub, so I just put the boys in their jammies:

And then we called Daddy and got ready to head to bed.

Since I was on my own and having traveled enough with the boys I feel it's easier to try to get one boy to bed at a time when they're in the same room. So first was no-nap Diddles and that wasn't too hard. Easton came up next and I did the same normal things we do at home and left him to fall asleep on his own. I rigged an "alarm" with a jingle bell on a pillow in front of the ladder to the loft just in case but E went to sleep easily as well.

The rest of us gathered in Lauren's room and put on High School Musical 2 till me and Moo got tired. I climbed up to join my sleeping boys and I could not fall asleep. Once I did, Dalton is not great at sleeping in a bed. He just could not get comfortable and a few times in the night he'd simply sit up or cry a bit or flop around or kick me in the stomach. Easton slept through it all. It was nice when they were both asleep and neither of them snuggle much when they sleep but sometimes I'd find E on the corner of my pillow with the back of his hand on my shoulder. Or he'd put his little feet on my thigh. That didn't last long because from 4-5:30 Dalton was wide awake. And then at 5:30 Easton was up for the day. He was very very good and lay their quietly, maybe trying to go back to sleep but it never happened. For me or for him...or for Gramoo sleeping below, I'm sure. So he got up at 7 and climbed down for his juice and then back up to watch Pocahontas quitely in the loft with me while Dalton did this:


The movie did not hold E's attention at all so he got to go down and be crafty with Gramoo:



She's so prepared! They did a bunch of cool stuff including making a pop-up card out of construction paper for Daddy.

Dalton kept doing this:


The cottage bills itself as a "bed and breakfast" but really they're more of a "bed and basket" as they just handed over a basket of fruit and muffins at check-in. But it was nice to have something for the boys to snack on before we headed out for something more substantial:


It had snowed during the night...maybe 4 inches or so. And it was soooooo cold. Like, below 0 to start. We showered and packed up and headed back into town around 11. Easton and I ran down to a doughnut shop we'd passed the day before for breakfast for the boys while my mom and Lauren and Dalton headed up to a restaurant where we met up with them. It was small and we had to wait which was hard but eventually we got to sit and eventually our food came (slow mountain life) and finally we ate and headed back for home.

My mom and Lauren hit a bad patch of ice on their drive home (they were nearly home!) and slid into a curb screwing up the car's suspension and alignment. Insurance has to get involved and the shop is estimating the damage at $1400. I'm just super glad that it was only their car and that no one but the car is hurt.

Daddy was excited to see us, he got lots done. I was excited for a nap. For Dalton too. So that's what we did...separate beds this time after the night before! J and E woke us up at 3:30 and we dug into the latest "holly box" that Jason's dad and step-mom sent. There was "magic dough" which entertained the boys for awhile:


J ran out shopping after awhile and picked up some stuff for dinner (which he sweetly made!) and then we tried to watch the Survivor finale but our HD channels were out so J spent the time on the phone instead and we have to watch it online tonight even though we already know who wins. Bummer.

Today E slept in till nearly 8 and then we made our doughnut run. It was -5 when we left our house at 9 a.m.:


We ate at home and watched the live-action Grinch movie. It's nearly 3 and the boys are both still in their jammies. I'm not looking forward to leaving the house for groceries as the high today was only supposed to be 9 degrees. Right now it's 1. One degree. Do you know how cold that is? It is so so so much colder than even 32 degrees. Brrrrr! You step outside and instantly any moisture in your nose or something contracts and freezes. It almost hurts to take a deep breath. It's chilly!!!

Little Diddles slept in two pairs of jammies last night as he doesn't stay under covers yet. And we bumped the heat up a notch (to 74) to compensate for the penetrating cold. Yeah, I'm gonna see what we can do for dinner tonight that doesn't involve me having to go to Wal-Mart with two boys in one degree weather. I don't love them wearing big heavy coats in their carseats but there are ways around that. Like staying home! :)